Guilty Pony JUDGMENT is MAGIC
by Don Justice-100
Summary: When a book sends Twilight Sparkle to the island of Isene, she must depend on the power of Sol Badguy to save her from getting killed. At the same time, she will have to assist him in his quest for the man responsible for the island's new monstrous inhabitants. Who is the man behind the curtain? And will Twilight find a way to return home to her fellow ponies?
1. Chapter 1: The Island of Isene

One day in the town of Ponyville, one of the most magical of unicorn ponies, Twilight Sparkle, was having a day off from her lessons  
in friendship in order to catch up on her lessons on magic. She lay belly up in bed, her nose deep in a book given to her by Princess Celestia  
from the Canterlot Archives. Spike was up to his usual hijinks, when he came across Twilight and her book. He chewed on small bits of a blue gem  
in his mouth as he asked, "Hey, Twilight! What ya reading?"  
Twilight didn't look up from the page she was on, but said,  
"Oh, it's...'A History of the Heroes of Humankind...1st Edition.' The Princess said it was a good book for study."  
Confused by the term, Spike scratched the back of his head. "Uh, what's a...huu..mon?"  
This got her to look up from her book at the baby dragon.  
"A human is a sort of being that walks upright on two legs instead of on four hooves like we ponies do.  
They had a number of talents as well as an even greater number of problems in their lives. According to this, their species died out a long time ago  
from a mysterious circumstance."  
"Mysterious, huh? Did you ask the Princess if she knew what it was?"  
Twilight turned away from Spike. "I wanted to, but the guards on duty told me that she was busy with royal matters."  
Then her mood improved a bit when she thought of the Princess.  
"She IS the Princess of Equestria, after all! And my questions are of little concern compared to the fate of our world. Besides, I can always ask her later  
through a letter."  
Spike waved his arms like crazy. "Uh-uh! No way, Twilight! My stomach can't handle any letters right now! That's part of the reason you wanted us to take  
the day off!"  
Twilight nodded in reply. "Yes, you're right, Spike! And what better way to spend it than reading a book? Hey, I've got an idea.  
Come here and read with me! It'll be fun!"  
"Hmph," said Spike after swallowing a big chunk of gem down his throat. "Reading, huh? That doesn't sound like fun."  
"Rainbow Dash thinks so. I bet she's also spending the day with a good book."  
"Aw, come on Twilight! Let's go see Rarity! I bet she, uh...has a new dress or something for you today!"  
The little pony rolled her eyes. "No can do. Gotta read this book! Maybe later...okay, Spike?"  
Spike groaned and went back downstairs to see if Owlowiscious was around. Twilight continued to read on and found a chapter having to do with a hero  
of ages past. It was about the story of a man known only in legend who had gone on a journey to a mysterious island. Finding some interest in it,  
she read on. On the first page, the image of a man wearing a headband caught her eye. His spiky hair reminded her of the day she'd used that  
magic spell to go back in time. She let out a small giggle before she started to read the text aloud.  
"Isene, a small island in the Southern seas of Europe with less than a thousand inhabitants and a peaceful facade. An unnatural phenomenon  
occurred there where the humans began disappearing at an alarming rate. The distance from neighboring countries made information slow to travel,  
and by the time anyone received information, the damage had spread beyond repair.  
The grim conditions...are still spiraling out of control."

Something didn't feel right about that last sentence, thought Twilight.

"Still out of control? Agh! This must be a misprint!"  
She put a hoof to the page, thinking that her next move was to slam the book shut and go downstairs to write an angry letter to the author  
for this blatant error in grammar. But then, as if by magic...the book began to give off an eerie, red glow. It was the kind of glow that made  
a room feel like a dark prison. And that was when Twilight felt fear wrap around her body like a chimichanga.  
"W..what is this? What's going on? Spike? Spike?"  
She looked around, but Spike wasn't in the house right now. He had left for Sugarcube Corner some time ago to get a quick snack.  
Poor Twilight, she was all alone.  
"Get ahold of yourself, Twilight," she said to herself, trying to keep things calm in her mind. "It's a known fact that books can't hurt you.  
Books can only do good, right? Right!"  
But she would soon be proven wrong. As the glow from the text grew brighter, the room grew darker. And for some reason, Twilight couldn't pull  
her right hoof off of the page.  
"What is this? I can't...hrrgh! Break...FREE! Ahhh! Spike! Owlowiscious!"  
She called their names, but no one came. The book then began to speak in a number of voices. Twilight Sparkle watched in horror as her hoof started  
to disappear into the page.

"No! NO! SOMEPONY! AAGH! ANYPONY! HELP MEEEEE-!"

But it was too late. For as Spike returned from Sugarcube Corner, there were no screams to be heard. He went upstairs to see Twilight,  
holding two cupcakes in his hands.  
"Hey, Twilight! Guess what? I got a sweet deal on this sapphire gem cupcake! And I got you one, too! Well, minus the gems.  
I know it's not your favorite, but I'm sure you'll like...it?"  
He looked around. Twilight was gone. And so was the book. The baby dragon shrugged. "Huh. I guess she went out for a walk."  
Then Owlowiscious flew in and landed on Spike's head. He greeted the owl with a smile and said, "Hey, Owlowiscious! I've got an extra cupcake! Do you want it?"

Twilight awoke to the smell of fumes in the air. She lay on her back, staring at a blue sky.  
"Where...what...happened? The last thing I remember was...that book...!"  
The very same book was in her arms. Holding on to it, she sat up and got a look at the world around her. She saw houses. Houses built of rocks, wood,  
and straw. Most of them were in shambles. And some were on fire, giving off fumes of black smoke.  
"How did I end up here? And...where is here?" Twilight looked down with contempt at the book in her hooves. She opened it up back to the page she was on before.  
But in place of the story she once saw, there was a photograph of a beautiful village with a small description written in the fanciest font she had ever seen. The title  
above the image read: _Liberia Village_, and the text described it as: _"A peaceful village, thriving with life."  
_Twilight compared the image in the book to the village in front of her and saw the connection. But this place was nothing like the photo in the book.  
Everything was smashed up and damaged. And she didn't see or hear any signs of life nearby. Whatever this place was before, it was now a run-down,  
abandoned village. Then she heard a noise. It came from one of the wrecked houses. She picked up the book with her mouth and threw it on her head.  
"Hello," said Twilight aloud. "Is anyone there?"  
As the sounds grew closer, Twilight took a step back.  
"I...need help getting back home. Please, if you would just come out, I can tell you more."  
Then a green, grasshopper-like creature came out of a broken-down house. It had long antennae on both sides of its head, two sets of purple, glowing eyes,  
and deadly sharp claws...bigger than a pony's head. Once it spotted Twilight, it let out a loud screech, bringing more of its kind from near and far. The little filly  
took a few more steps back. At least there was someone...well, some 'thing' here. Maybe they could help her out, she thought. She tried again to talk with the  
hopper beasts. "Um..hey! I need some help getting back to Ponyville. Any of you fellas know where that is?"  
But she got no response from the beasts. As they advanced, their mouths dripped with acidic drool. From this, Twilight guessed that they lacked the intelligence  
to understand words. And there was no way to reason with something that didn't have a brain. But she didn't know what else she could do.  
"No? Yes? Maybe? Or perhaps, you can point me in the right direction...out of..here? Please?"  
She could feel it. The monsters were about to pounce on her. She feared for her life. But then, something jumped out of the bushes behind her.  
It leapt at the beast closest to Twilight and knocked it unconscious with one hit. The man now in front of her squeezed his fist, staring hard at his knuckle.  
He looked up at the monsters, grinned, then said,  
"What a pain in the ass. Out of my way! Haah!"  
And then he smacked the ever-loving crap outta the rest of the monster horde. Twilight watched as he used his weapon to smack down creature after creature,  
either by bashing in their skull or slicing them in half. When the monsters were defeated, the man stood amongst the dead corpses of the wretched beasts.  
He looked down at them, frowning.  
Then, he spotted Twilight. She was unable to move, her thoughts stuck on the brutality that had just happened right before her eyes.  
"Amazing! He...he destroyed those monsters with ease! But now that they're gone, what will happen...to me?"  
Twilight whimpered as he made his approach. He moved casually, one hand on his weapon, the other on his hip.  
When he got to her, he got down on one knee. Then he placed a hand on her head and said,

"Hey, little pony...ya' gotta do better than that to Keep Yourself Alive out here. This is a dangerous place. You know that, don't you?"


	2. Chapter 2: The Old Mansion

"Are you..are you a...human?"  
His outfit was something she'd never seen in any of the Rarity's designs.  
He wore a red jacket, a tight, black undershirt underneath it, and white jeans that went down to his red shoes.  
And holding up the drape of red cloth to his waistline was a buckle with the word 'FREE' on it. On his head was the headband she saw worn by the  
man she'd first seen in the book. Twilight wondered if this was the same man from the photo. He held his weapon in his left hand. From how it had been used,  
Twilight judged it to be a sword. Yet it looked like a large stick made of metal. Despite the sword's odd shape, it did do some considerable damage to those beasts.  
"Yeah," he said in reply, "and you're a talking pony. First those monsters...then you. This is turning out to be a weird day for me."  
"Me too," said Twilight. "I don't know how I got here and...I've got to find a way back home. Can you help me?"  
Twilight hoped the man would say yes. But his eyes were on the state of the village. It didn't seem like he had any interest in her problems.  
"Are you the only one here?"  
Twilight nodded.  
"I'm Sol. And you are?"  
"I'm Twilight. Twilight Sparkle."  
"That's your name? Hilarious."  
The little pony frowned. "And what kind of name is Sol, anyway? Is that all there is to your name?"  
"No. My full name's Sol Badguy."  
"And my name is weird, how?" Sol held back from pointing out what he thought was funny about her name.  
"Never mind that. Do you know how to fight?"  
Twilight looked down and slid her hoof in the dirt, a bit embarrassed.  
"No, I'm more of a...magical type of pony. A unicorn. I feel that physical violence doesn't solve anything."  
"Whatever gets you through the day, kid. But if I didn't show up here and save you, you'd be dead by now."  
"Yeah...good point. So, can you help me get back to my home?"  
Sol shook his head.  
"Look. I'd help you out if I could. But I came here to get down to business. I have to rid this place of these monsters and find out what's behind all this."  
Then the man stood back up and started to walk away. "Take care of yourself. Don't get killed by the monsters, okay?"  
The monsters. Twilight felt a fear within her about them. How would she, a pony with no real experience in mortal combat, fare out here in the wilderness  
on a mysterious island? Dealing with fierce, evil creatures who had no qualms about eating her up? In a heartbeat, she ran after Sol and got in his way.  
Sol frowned, annoyed to see her once again.  
"What is it now?"  
"Please! I...I need your help!"  
"I told ya, I can't send you back home."  
"But can you protect me? From the monsters..and stuff?"  
Sol groaned. He scratched the back of his head with his sword and turned away from her face. He glanced back at her to see her pouty lips.  
That's when he realized for the first time how big her eyes actually were. As she stared at him, he felt his resolve weaken.  
Tears were close to making their escape from her eyes. That was it. He couldn't stand it. This pony was impossible to say no to.  
"Fine. Sure. Let's go."  
"Y..you mean it?"  
"Yeah. Come on." He started to walk on through the village. Twilight was quick to hurry after him. She kept up with his two feet on her four hooves,  
walking by his side all the while.  
"I'll let you tag along for now. Maybe after I find out what's the story with this island, I can work on finding you a way back home. That good for you?"  
Twilight nodded.  
"Good. Why don't you tell me more about this home of yours?"  
"Oh, you mean Ponyville? It's a nice, peaceful place with lots and lots of ponies. Everypony there is friendly and..well, I wouldn't say everypony.  
But everypony I know is nice."  
"Everypony? Boy, what kind of world do you live in? So you have friends there, I take it?"  
"Oh, yes. I have a lot of good friends. First, there's Applejack. She's a pony who's really tough."  
"Tough, huh," teased Sol. "How tough we talking?"  
"Tough enough to chuck a bunch of grapes using only her face!"  
"Whoa," said Sol with a laugh, "that IS tough."  
"I know! She's really..wait, are you being sarcastic?"  
"Nope."  
But before she could determine if he was, another green hopper beast showed up. It lunged at Twilight, baring its deadly claws. Twilight stood still in terror,  
but Sol reacted, slamming the beast's body to the dirt with one fist to the brains. Once she was sure it was safe, Twilight used a hoof to poke at the monster.  
It didn't move, not in the least. She wagged her tail, happy to have Sol as her protector.  
"Wow, Sol! You're really strong!"  
"Thanks. But it's not something I'm proud of." He moved over the monster's carcass and walked on. Twilight soon followed after him.  
"I mean it, Sol. You're probably stronger than Applejack! And she's the toughest pony I know. Next to Rainbow Dash, that is."  
"Again, it's not something I like to talk about."  
"But why not? You're human, right? I read that humans have fragile bodies, just like us ponies do. But you don't have the use of magic like I do.  
So seeing that kind of physical strength from a human being is...just amazing!"  
"But I'm not human."  
Twilight didn't understand. "You're not human? Then...what are you?"  
"I'm what you might call, a Gear."  
"A Gear? You mean, like in a clock?"  
"Something like that. Gears are different. You could say we're like the gears in a clock. But we're unstable parts that don't operate the same as others do."  
"Uh, I'm going to need to know more than that."  
For no real reason, Sol held his sword high above his head. He tilted the blade, reflecting the rays of the sun on his face.  
"Gears are basically beings genetically altered by science. They can be composed of anything. From humans or animals. Or both. They live on instinct and their only  
desire is to kill anything in sight." Twilight then came to a stop. She gave Sol a fearful expression.  
"Does that mean, that you..?"  
"No. I was lucky. I was a prototype Gear. And after a couple of years, I put this headband on. It retains my humanity and keeps me from warping into a monster."  
"Oh, that's good. But these Gears...who would create something so evil?"  
"Someone I should've taken out a long time ago. But I'm workin' on another case right now. In due time, I swear I will exterminate the Gears from this world."  
Once Sol was done talking, he lowered his sword and gazed up at the clouds.  
"But wait. If you're a Gear, won't that mean you'll have to...that is...you.." She didn't know how to bring up the contradiction she saw in Sol's mission.  
"Once I've gotten rid of all Gears, I'll finally be able to rest."  
The little pony then looked up at Sol with sad eyes; she knew what he meant by that.  
"Hey, I feel like I got to ask. What's with the book on your head?"  
Twilight's eyes went up to the book from before. She was still balancing it on her head.  
"This is a book I had with me on my arrival here. Hey, where are we, anyway?"  
"Isene. It's some isolated island in the middle of some nation. Nothing special."  
Just like in the book, thought Twilight. She could barely believe this was real. Maybe she was actually in the book, somehow?  
"Back to that book...having the weight of it on your head will hold you back. Sooner or later, those monsters will return. You'd be better off  
without that paperweight."  
Though it was what got her in this mess, Twilight didn't want to get rid of the book. It might be the key to help her get back home.  
"No! I want to hold on to it. Just in case."  
"Well, in THAT case.."  
Sol searched the area for something. Soon, he'd spotted it: the dead, charred skeleton of a horse. It had burnt reins in its mouth, and a saddle with bags  
attached. He went to the horse and pulled off the saddle bags, then brought them to Twilight and placed them on her back. The saddle and its bags were both gray  
and worn out, but were the perfect size for Twilight. The pony grimaced, knowing that she was wearing an accessory left on the body of something that had  
been dead for a long time.  
"Ewww! This is disgusting!"  
"Get used to it. I'll just put your book in here." Once Sol put the book in one of the saddle bags, he closed the flap back on it. "It looks good on you."  
"I really don't want to wear this!"  
"Just give it time. Let's go."  
Hours later, the two had left the village and came upon a huge structure. The moon rose slowly over the horizon, putting it in full view. It was an old mansion.  
"Hmph," said Sol. "We need a place to sleep for the night. This will do."  
Then Twilight heard a hum coming from one of the saddle bags.  
"What's that sound?"  
"I think it's the book," said Twilight. She opened the saddle bag flap and pulled the book out. One of the pages was glowing red. When she turned to the glowing  
page, the light faded away. On the page was the picture of a perfect mansion. Twilight noticed it to be the same structure she and Sol were in the presence of. In  
the description under the image, she read the text aloud: "_Liberia Mansion. A wonderful castle made for the people. It's owner is Master_...ummm..."  
The name was scratched off the page.  
"Well, whoever owned this mansion sure didn't keep it in good shape."  
"That book," said Sol, "did it just give you info on this place?"  
"I think so. I'm not sure how, but I think it's fueled by some sort of magic."  
"The words in there are not relevant to the present. This entire island is a shadow of what it once was. And I need to find out why."  
"Could a Gear," asked Twilight, "be behind all of this?"  
"Yeah, maybe. It may be inside that mansion, waiting for us."  
So they went in the front door and into the old mansion. On the inside, there were worn-out pillars holding up the ceiling. Twilight wondered how they got so  
damaged. Were they aged by time? Or was it done by the monsters? Suddenly, strange moans filled the air. Twilight's eyes darted everywhere, in fear of the  
unknown. "What was that?"  
Sol pulled out his sword, ready to fight. "I don't know. But I'll kill it when it shows."  
The moans came from the open doorway at the end of the long hallway of pillars. The sound of something moving was coming up the staircase. Reaching the top  
of the stairs, Twilight recognized what it was from her books. It was the figure of a woman.  
"Ooh, ooh, ooh! I know this one! That's a woman! A human female, the opposite gender of man!"  
"How's that exciting?" Sol wasn't one to be so easily affected by the curves a woman.  
"According to one of my books, human females are gentle, kind, and..." But her words fell short once the figure came out into the light for them to see.  
It had the body of a woman, alright. Complete with slender arms, thin legs, even breasts. She had everything...except a head.  
"Aaah! What is that thing, Sol?"  
"Doesn't matter. It's dead." Sol ran towards the feminine figure and sliced through her. Immediately after Sol's attack, its body fell to pieces on the floor.  
"Hah," said Sol with a grin, "too easy!" He went back to Twilight in a nonchalant walk. He didn't notice the pieces of the figure reforming in a menacing, purple glow.  
"Sol," cried Twilight, "look out!"  
Sol moved in time to dodge an arm swung at him from the still incomplete figure. He then blocked another arm with his sword. Seeing the danger he was in,  
the little pony decided that she had to help him. Using her horn, she aimed for the figure's chest and fired out a shot of magic. Once it made impact, the figure's body  
exploded, sending its pieces everywhere. Twilight suspected it would quickly re-form itself and attack again. But after some waiting, the pieces didn't move.  
She did it. Twilight had won.  
"You really did a number on that thing, kid," said Sol. "Good job. I don't think it'll be getting up anytime soon."  
"Thanks," said Twilight. "It wasn't much. I just used my magic to separate it's body parts."  
"This thing was just a mannequin," said Sol as he picked up a piece of the figure. "But it tried to kill us."  
He gave a piece of it to Twilight, who carefully observed it.  
"Is it possible that it was animated by magic?"  
"No, this one was alive."  
"Alive?"  
Sol placed his hand on the mannequin's arm. "I can feel..human emotions. A desire to exist. There's something human in here. I know it."  
"What does this mean?"  
"Hard to say. We'll encounter more of these as we go further in this mansion. Sure you don't want to go back to that village?"  
Twilight got mad at the suggestion. "I'm sticking with you, whether you like it or not. Get used to it!"  
"Putting your hoof down and sticking to your word? I like that." Then Sol threw the mannequin arm aside.  
"We got to keep going. There's bound to be an empty room where we can sleep for the night."  
Continuing through the mansion, they deal with more monsters: some undead bats that try to suck their blood, more female mannequins of death, and more run-ins  
with the hopper beasts from the village. Between Sol's brutal blows and Twilight's magic, the two were able to fight off the monsters and find an empty room.  
The room looked as crappy as the rest of the mansion, but it had a bed and a window. Although, the bed had no cover and the window had been boarded up by  
bricks. Sol put his sword under the pillow and lay down on the bed. He was about to put his head to rest when he noticed Twilight settling down on the ground  
next to him.  
"What are you doing down there, kid?"  
The pony looked up at him and said, "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going to bed!"  
"On the floor?"  
"You already got the bed, and I didn't want to be rude, so..."  
Sol groaned as he scooped Twilight up in his arm and placed her on the bed.  
"There. How's that?"  
"Hey, what are you doing?"  
"A kid like you," said Sol as he lay Twilight's head against the only pillow, "needs a good bed to sleep in. I don't mind letting you have the pillow if you take this side.  
I'll sleep on the other."  
"Stop treating me," said Twilight, her face blushing once again, "like a kid! I know I'm not as tough as you, but I can handle myself, thank you very much!"  
Sol shrugged. "Sure, sleep on the floor. It's right there, if that's what you want."  
He then turned over and fell asleep. Twilight didn't want to be mean to the one protecting her from certain death. But she didn't like being thought of as being weak.  
It hurt her confidence, and she valued her self-confidence almost as much as her loyalty to her friends. She was pulled from her state of mind by the cold chill of the  
pillow on her cheek. Wanting to make up for a lack of warmth, she moved closer to Sol, hoping to generate a little heat. As she slept that night, she had a dream of  
her home back in Ponyville. In the dream, she was fast asleep in her nicely made bed next to a bookcase of perfectly organized books.


	3. Chapter 3: The Wasteland of Ships

Before she was able to wake up, Twilight felt her body being jostled like a ball bouncing in a moving box. When she finally opened her eyes, she saw that she was  
no longer in bed..but on the move. Yet, her hooves were not moving. She lifted her eyes up to see Sol. He was holding her in his right arm, running at top speed.  
"Sol, what's...going on? Where are we going?"  
"We got a wake up call," said Sol, "from some ugly bastards. Take a look."  
Twilight turned her head back and saw a horde of green, brown, and blue hopper beasts scampering after them. Heavy amounts of acidic drool poured like water  
out of their mouths. This put the usually calm, reasonable pony in a panic.  
"Aaaah! Faster, Sol! Faster!"  
Sol's speed did increase, but not by much considering he was still tired from losing out on a good night's sleep.  
"Damn. If I just got 8 hours of sleep in, I'd be able to outrun 'em..."  
The monsters wouldn't stop. And when one of the hoppers had a claw close enough to Sol, it made a swipe at his back.  
"Ugh! Son of a-!"  
Somehow, the pain made him run faster. After all that running, Sol's feet came to a stop at a door. It was locked. Sol cursed under his breath. Then Twilight pointed  
out a gap in the floor under his feet. A secret passage! Sol forced it open and got in, slamming the door behind them. Once below, they heard scratching and pawing  
from the door. Twilight surmised that since it had a handle only human hands could operate, there'd be no way for the beasts to get the door open. But it wouldn't  
hold up forever. "I don't like walking in the dark," said Twilight not able to see much in this darkness, "but we have to get out of here."

Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, Spike was resting in the comfort of his home...in the dark...in a pile of cupcakes.  
A few hours before, Spike had given up on waiting for Twilight to return, pushing him to look through her special chest out of boredom. He'd found her hidden bag  
of gold coins and decided to buy some more cupcakes with it. And that led to fat Spike...out cold...with unfinished cupcakes all over the floor. The baby dragon was  
so stuffed with cupcakes that he didn't hear the majestic Princess Celestia walk in on him. She took one look at Spike, then flew up to Twilight's bed. It looked like it  
had not been slept in lately. She used her magic to pull books from Twilight's bookcase, muttering the title of each book as it flew on by.  
She frowned when she realized the book she was seeking wasn't there.  
"Maybe he knows.."  
Then the Princess leapt down from the top floor to land with a heavy thud. The sound she made was loud enough to jolt Spike out of his cupcake-induced sleep.  
He sat up and wiped his eyes, surprised to see the face of Princess Celestia staring back at him.  
"Whoa! Princess? When did you get here?"  
"Never mind that, Spike. What happened here? And where is my dearest student, Twilight?"  
"Hmm. Come to think of it, I don't know. I was..oh!"  
Next to his foot, he'd spotted one of the leftover cupcakes. He inhaled it up and chewed on the frosty delight.  
"Mmm! Yeah, me and Owlowiscious! We went everywhere in Ponyville, looking for Twilight. But..mmm!"  
Spike had gulped down what was left of the cupcake in his mouth.  
"But we got bored and bought a bunch of cupcakes. I..got kind of greedy and ate them all! Then, I fell asleep here!"  
"How did you afford all of this?"  
"I...uh...borrowed some money from a friend. Oh, do you want a cupcake, Princess? I took some bites out of most of them, but I'm sure there's a fresh one here."  
The Princess shook her head. "Um, thank you, Spike. But I think I'll pass!"  
"That's okay. More for me then! Ooh, another one!'  
But before he could get his claws on another stray cupcake, it was lifted into the air by magic.  
"Hold on, Spike," said the Princess, "before you can have this, can you tell me if Twilight was reading a brown book...with red and gold borders on it?"  
Spike scratched his scales, thinking hard. Then he said, "Oh, yeah. She said she was reading about hoo...hue..mans. I still don't get it."  
"Thank you, Spike. That's all I need to know."  
Then she let the cupcake drop into Spike's hands. He did a small fist pump of victory before munching down on the innocent cupcake, ending its delicious existence.  
He was too busy eating to pay attention to the Princess taking her leave.  
"So good! Yeah! Oh, Princess? If you see Twilight, can you tell her...Princess? Where'd ya go?"  
He sighed, feeling a rumble in his belly.  
"Oh, the cupcakes!"

Back on the island of Isene, Sol and Twilight had made it to the end of the dark passageway and found a door.  
"This had better be an exit," said Sol.  
Sol pushed it open. Behind the door was a fleet of stairs that went up to a bright light. As they ascended the stairs, Twilight felt she had to say something.  
"Hey, Sol?"  
"Yeah?"  
"We're safe from the munsters now, so...could you let me down?"  
"Oh, sorry." He puts the pony down gently on one of the steps and gives her a pat on the head.  
"I know you were probably sick of me carrying you, but...it just sort of felt right to have you there, you know?"  
"Um, not really."  
Actually, it did feel sort of natural to be carried around like that, thought Twilight. And being petted by a human hand felt okay, too. Soon the two of them had  
reached the last step. They went out into an large, outer area that resembled a beach. But the sand here was rock hard. And the ocean was still, devoid of  
movement. The sky was shrouded by the clouds overhead. And the skeleton of an oversized fish was washed up ashore. On the waters of the still ocean sat two  
wrecked ships, dead and gray from lack of use. The book in Twilight's saddle bag began to hum again. She pulled it from the bag and turned to the newest page.  
Sol squats down like a badass yankii next to Twilight and looks on with her into the book. She reads the words under the image of two ships firing cannonballs at  
each other. "This is the _'Wasteland of Ships'_. This area was known to be a place for captains to die after battles of grand stature had occured. The ships would sink  
in the sea and be found years later by theiving pirates. But then, why are these two ships still above the ocean?"  
Just then, Sol had put a hand to Twilight to keep her voice down.  
"Shh."  
"Huh, what's-"  
"Be quiet. We're not alone out here."  
And as Sol said that, out of the sky appeared something big. It made cracks in the ground when it landed. It was...a monster. Well, a giant, rectangular-shaped pillar  
with a face attached to three of its sides. The first face was that of a woman's. The second was that of a man's. And the third was that of a machine's.  
"Sol, do you know what kind of monster this is?"  
"It must be a demon from the other world."  
"Other world?"  
"There's no time to explain it to you now. We've got a fight on our hands."  
Feeling cautious, Twilight stayed behind Sol as they got closer to the three-faced creature. Each face appeared to switch to the other sides at will. This would make it  
hard to tell which attack it would use against us, Sol thought. Once Sol and Twilight got close enough, the pillar switched to the man's face. Its head knashed up and  
down from the chains that attached it to the pillar. When it roared through the metal harness on its face, a wall of fire appeared that divided Sol and Twilight from  
each other.  
"Crap! Twilight, get back!"  
The precocious pony got away from the flames. She then used a magic spell to reduce them to smoke. Sol gave Twilight a thumbs up.  
"Good move."  
The pillar turned again and switched to the woman's face. The metallic bonnet that adorned its head matched the strange mask on its face. Its face screeched  
horribly loud, summoning giant icicles from out of thin air. Twilight got out of harm's way quick, avoiding a hit from an icicle. But Sol wasn't as lucky. He took a direct  
hit from a falling icicle to his head. He grunted from the pain, but didn't pass out. Sol's response to its attack inspired the creature to turn its pillar to the last face,  
the face of the machine. Its gray, silvery face had no features save for a red symbol. And once the symbol changed shape, walls of rock came out of the ground.  
The walls grew in order, coming closer to where Twilight was. She used her magic to teleport herself out of the way, but accidently ended up on top of the machine head. It tried to shake her off, but she'd wrapped her arms on its chrome dome, hanging on for dear life. Sol thought she was doing good, but knew that sooner or later, it would throw her off. So he flipped his sword in the air, caught it, then drew his arm back and chucked the blade at the machine head. When it hit  
the monster's metal face, it cracked wide open. Pieces of silver fell, and the face roared, giving Twilight the chance to get off its head. She ran back to Sol and hid  
behind his leg.  
"T-thanks for the save," she said to him.  
"No problem," he replied. "Get ready, it's coming back with another attack."  
And so it did, as the pillar switched back to the man's face. It roared again, but this time summoning two lines of fire. Twilight escaped the attack,  
but Sol stood in place.  
"What do you think you're doing, Sol? Move!"  
Sol didn't move. He stayed there, as if he was waiting for the flames. Once the rows of fire reached his feet, his body was engulfed in flames. Twilight cringed at  
the sight, her eyes filling up with tears.  
"Oh, Sol! Why didn't you move? If only I was stronger..I'd...I could have...huh?"  
Twilight didn't think he could've survived. But there, standing in the flames, was Sol. The face of the pillar beast was surprised, as well.  
"You know why they call me," Sol said, "The Immoral Flame?"  
The current face of the creature roared in anger.  
"You don't? Well, let me show you." Then Sol ran to the pillar beast.  
Repeating the same move, the monster sent more lines of fire along the ground. But Sol ran over each one of them. When he was close enough, his feet left the  
ground as he spun his body in a perfect circle and called out, "Bandit...REVOLVER!" His foot collided with the man's face, almost kicking it off from its chains.  
And then in a finishing move sort of way, Sol went up into a Shoryuken-type uppercut, hitting the face of the man right in the chin. His fist became coated in flames  
as he performed the move. At the height of the uppercut, he shouted the name of his attack aloud: "VOLCANIC...VIPER!"  
Once his move had been executed, the pillar face of the man fell to the ground, though not off of its chains. It closed its eyes, its head hanging low. Once it did this,  
the other heads did the same, closing their eyes for the last time. And that was the end of that. This boss was dead. After removing his sword from the face of the machine head, Sol went back to Twilight.  
"Hey, kid. You alright?"  
Twilight, overcome with joy, ran to Sol and jumped at him, latching on to his face.  
"Oh my gosh, Sol! That was fantastic! How'd you deal with those second degree burns? Did it hurt? Are you hurt? Tell me everything!"  
"That's nice and all, but..could you please get off of my face?"  
"Oh, sorry!"  
She let go of Sol's face and he held her up by her arms. Then he noticed...her face. Twilight was giving him her most adorable smile.  
"Come on, stop it."  
"Stop what?"  
"That face. Stop it. It's so cute, it's making me sick."  
"I can't help it if I'm happy!"  
He groaned as he put Twilight on the back of his head. "There's less chance of you getting hurt up there. Was this your first real fight?"  
Twilight thought back to her life back in Ponyville. "Not really. Though I have been in some tussles of my own. Like when I wrestled Applehack!"  
"Applejack, huh? Does her name have more to do with apples, or is her name just Jack?"  
"It's her family. All the ponies in her family are named after an apple."  
The man and the pony kept their conversation going as Sol started walking from the pillar beast, away from the beach.  
After they left, the two ships that sat in the still waters of the ocean began to fall apart and sink. The ocean began splashing its waves upon the shore.  
And the sand became loose and shifty.

But the skeleton of the dead fish remained in its place on the sand.


	4. Chapter 4: An Epic Battle for Rival

As Sol and Twilight left the beach, they went into a dank, grimy swamp. Then past a raging riverside across many, many bridges. Both places had their fair share of  
monsters. Still riding on Sol's head, Twilight had gotten used to it. She was able to see a lot from being so high up. And his hair was a nice, cushy pillow to sleep on.  
Although Sol didn't like that she drooled all over his head when she fell asleep there. The sun was about to set in the sky when they found a lonely raft on the side of  
the river.  
"Looks like a good raft," said Sol. "Big enough to fit a group of people, maybe?"  
"I wonder what reason someone would have for putting it together and leaving it like this?"  
They boarded the raft and Sol kicked it off land into the flowing waters. Aside from the sound of the waves rushing the raft down the river, all was quiet.  
Twilight stared ahead, expecting a beast to show its ugly face. While Sol's attention was on the stone towers sticking out of the water. He sat back and watched  
one go right after the other as the raft surfed along, until he shut his eyes and lowered his gaze from the setting sun.  
Twilight let out an annoyed groan.  
"Aaaagh! Where are they? Where?"  
Sol lifted his chin slightly, but his eyes remained closed.  
"Just relax, already."  
"But...the monsters!"  
"..are not here. If a monster shows, we'll beat it. And it never helps to worry over something that hasn't happened. Just relax."  
"Okay, I'll try." Twilight closed her eyes and tried to forget her worries. But then she felt something grab her by her sides. She re-opened her eyes to see Sol  
taking her off of his head and putting her down beside him.  
"Why'd you put me down, Sol? Is this because of my snoring?"  
"No," he said as he picked up his sword. "But since we're on the subject, you know you slobber when you sleep, right?"  
Suddenly, the raft stopped moving.  
"Funny," said Twilight, "I didn't know this was our stop."  
"It's not. This isn't where the river ends."  
"Maybe if we try swimming back to shore, we can...ow!"  
"What is it?"  
Twilight had a hoof close to the side of the raft and touched the water. When she showed her hoof to Sol, it was burnt.  
"Ow! How did that..."  
"Twilight, get down!"  
The pony ducked her head, avoiding a soaring wave of electric energy that went for Sol. He deflected it with his sword at the last possible moment.  
Then his expression went from calm to angry as he saw the face of someone from afar. Twilight, still hiding under her hooves in fear, saw him too.  
What was coming toward them was a man flying through the air, surrounded by bulging spheres of electricity. Without a single deviation in his flight, he wielded  
his blade to Sol. Sol countered with his own sword, clashing blades and making a dash at him. It all happened in the blink of an eye. After the attack, the two men  
stood away from each other. And when they made eye contact, it was the one wearing white and blue that spoke.  
"Sol! Are you here to cause more chaos? I demand to know your purpose here on Isene!"  
"Heh. Come on, Ky. Why so serious? Why don't you take in the sights...instead of trying to bring me to Justice?"  
The man named Ky scoffed and said, "Bastard, don't screw with me! I'm not messing around!"  
"Maybe what you really want to know is why I left the Order?"  
"Tch!" A change in Ky's expression confirmed Sol's suspicions.  
"I see. I told you already, I didn't like the way you guys did things anymore. So I took off. End of story."  
"Then why did you steal the Order's greatest and most sacred treasure?"  
To this question, Sol said nothing. This infuriated Ky greatly.  
"Answer me!"  
"I feel like words aren't good enough for you right now."  
"For once, we agree. Haaah!"  
And Ky began his attack, skillfully swinging his blade as Sol avoided each strike. At first, Twilight wanted to help, thinking that Sol was in trouble.  
But when she took a closer look at Sol's face, she noticed something strange: his eyes were closed! He was dodging every strike, every slash of that man's blade  
of lightning...without even seeing it!  
"How," said Twilight to herself, "is he doing that? It's like...it's like he's not even trying! He's treating this whole fight as if it were child's play!"  
After five or so fruitless attempts at trying to hit him, Ky's fighting style had changed. For every slash he now made began to lack the elegance and beauty of his  
earlier attacks. It was during the time frame of one of Ky's failed attacks that Sol finally made a move. He smacked Ky's sword out of his hand and up into the air.  
It landed right behind its owner, the hilt of the blade facing up. With no way to defend himself, Ky admitted defeat. Sol held the tip of his sword to Ky's neck and said,  
"What the hell is with you? You're fighting like you've lost it!"  
Ky looked away. He hesitated, distracted by a flashback in his mind. "I just...this place...it just got to me, that's all."  
"Huh?" Sol lowered his blade. The blonde man shook his head.  
"That's just like you. You act like a badass. A rebel to society. Yet, you have a heart of gold. What kind of man am I, calling myself just...when I wasn't able to  
save the life of that woman?"  
"Woman?"  
Without another word, Ky retrieved his sword from where it hit the ground. He made a clear vault from the raft back on to dry land on the other side of the river.  
But as he was about to move on, he turned back to his rival and said, "Remember this, Sol. We will meet again, someday."  
To this, Sol lifted up a hand, giving Ky a thumbs up.  
"Count on it."  
And Ky walked away. Sol watched as he went, until he was long gone. He sighed, then looked down to see Twilight at his feet. Stupefied by the amazing battle that  
had just taken place, she stared at him with a big, friendly smile. Those eyes again...it made Sol feel uneasy.  
"Stop with the face, kid. It's...too cute to take."  
"Wow! That was incredible I mean, you were so fast, and...and that guy! Who was he? And the fire, and...!"  
Sol put his hand over Twilight's mouth.  
"Slow down, kid. You're talking way too fast for me."  
Twilight took his hand off of her face and asked, "Who was that guy? Was he a friend of yours?"  
Sol reached for a stray hair in Twilight's mane and plucked it out.  
"Yeah, you could say that."  
Seeing as how the water was now electrified, Sol decided that it wasn't safe to try riding down the river on the raft anymore. He put Twilight back on his head and  
made a big leap back to dry land. When Twilight asked how Ky somehow froze their raft in the water, he said,  
"I don't know how he did it, but that bastard made it stay in place just by using the electricity from his sword. He's smart, decisive, and fair. That's why he belonged  
in the Order more than I did, back then."  
"And the Order is?"  
"I'll tell ya later, okay?"  
Hours of walking later, after the sun had gone down, Sol and Twilight came across a roman-type looking ruin. Inside they discovered the corpse of a monster.  
Its body strewn across the floor, it looked to be a cross between a plant and a woman. The leaves and vines that came from the creature's lower torso had been fried,  
and the skeleton of the female half on the upper torso was still giving off smoke. Sol wondered if she was a Gear. Feeling curious, Twilight hopped off of Sol's head  
and went to observe the creature's form. Sol tried to warn her from touching it, but she already had a hoof reaching to touch the monster's ribs. When she touched it,  
she pulled her hoof back in pain.  
"Ow! Not again!"  
"You okay?"  
"Yeah," Twilight replied, "it's just...the last I recall getting burnt like this was back on the raft when I tried to touch the water."  
"I get it."  
"What?"  
"Seems he's the one responsible for this."  
Sol went to the little pony, got down on eye level with her, held her hoof in his hand, and rubbed it gently.  
"It doesn't look too bad. Just like with the water, this thing's skeleton has been electrically charged."  
"So, that's why I got burned?"  
Sol nodded. "This thing was guarding the entrance to this ruin. That means the one responsible for this can't be too far from here."  
Then he began walking forward, but stopped when he realized the absence of the sound of hooves following him.  
"Are you coming?"  
"Well..you see...my hoof is.." Twilight felt awkward about mentioning the obvious. Sol didn't get it until she pointed at her hoof. Then he went to her and put her  
back on his head so they could continue their journey. Later that night, they found refuge under the shade of a damaged stone pillar in the roman ruins and slept  
there for the night.


	5. Chapter 5: The Mine in Ksanaka

In the dawn of the next day, our two heroes are found walking atop rickety railroad tracks, about to enter a huge mine. Twilight expected to hear from the book  
about this area, and soon enough, it began to hum and glow. She opened it to read and said, "_The Ksanaka Gold Mine_. Many men struck it rich here...until one day,  
they were attacked by weird and strange horrors that craved human flesh. It has become a nest for all types of creatures. Stay out."  
"Weird."  
"What's weird, Sol?"  
"That's the first time that book's had any info that's relative to the present since you read out of it. I got a feeling that when we go in there, we'll be attacked."  
They then venture inside the mine. Inside they find something unexpected; the lanterns lining the walls were lit, and there were mining carts filled with minerals.  
This place was still up and running. "A cave deep inside an ancient ruin with traces of supplies being transported."  
"But this place is supposed to be abandoned," said Twilight questionably.  
Out of the darkness of the cave, three hopper beasts appeared. These beasts were more mutated than the ones back in the village. Their scales were purple,  
their claws more bigger than before, and their heads mutated in size. They seemed tough, but it didn't take much effort on Sol's part to take the first beast out by  
getting behind it and snapping its neck. Then third hopper beast kept Sol busy as the second one tried to cut Sol down with his back turned. Acting as if she were the  
eyes in the back of his head, Twilight hooked her hooves tight around Sol's neck and used her hind legs to buck the beast away from him. When the third hopper  
beast saw the hoofprint the pony left on its ally, it ran back into the dark screeching wildly at the top of its lungs. As the journey through the cave progressed, Sol  
and Twilight ran into more hopper beasts. And by working together, Sol would beat 'em down and Twilight would either stomp or buck them with her hooves. But  
after so many fights with monsters, Twilight had run out of steam. She wasn't used to this much physical stress on her body. Sol could feel her getting weaker as he could sense the beating of her heart slowing down.  
"Twilight."  
"Y..yeah?"  
"Get off my head."  
"But why?"  
"You're done. You can't fight any more of these guys. Each one we meet seems to be more freaked up than the last.  
And I can tell you're getting weaker. You're done, for now."  
It was true. Twilight was done. But she didn't want Sol to think she couldn't take it.  
"No! I wanna help! And we're almost out of the mine, anyway. See?" She pointed at an opening in the cave just ahead. It did look like the way out.  
But going into the light, they had entered an entirely new area. The walls and floors were made of glass, and you could see right through them too. It was a laboratory. And just like the mine it was still being used. More hopper beasts then showed up. These beasts looked like the purple ones from the mine, but with a  
different color scheme of red and green. They snarled as they made their attack. Twilight was ready to kick some butt, when Sol pulled her off his head. He pushed  
her aside, then kicked off two beasts that tried to rip him open and stabbed another one in the chest. Not willing to let him keep her out of the fight, she ran in to  
help. But Sol was already gearing up for an attack. He saw the outcome of his next move in his head, then raised his fist in intense awesomeness and threw it  
forward. A massive, fiery burst of fire erupted from his fist as he shouted, "Tyrant...RAAAVE!" And the hopper beasts were swallowed up by a torrent of flames.  
Their bodies were charred to ashes, and they quickly faded away. Sol shook off the thrill of battle from his arm by flexing it.  
"Man," he said, "if I enjoy this too much, I might go Gear without meaning to."  
As Twilight watched him flex his arm round, she snorted. She trotted up to him and gave him a dirty look. When he noticed her there, he said,  
"Uh...good teamwork, huh?"  
"Yeah, right! You know, Sol, the next time you don't need my help, just say so!"  
She closed her eyes, held her snout up at him, then trotted on. Sol followed after her, his eyebrows furrowed. "I was only trying...to protect you, damn it."  
During the rest of their trek through the laboratory, Sol would do all the fighting while Twilight was left to watch. Sol had good intentions, but Twilight didn't enjoy  
sitting on the sidelines like this. She wanted to help. At the end of the lab was a door. With no door knob or keyhole here, this would prove to be a problem.  
But where one would see an obstacle, Twilight Sparkle saw an opportunity. This was her chance to help!  
"I know the perfect way to get through this door," said Twilight in a better mood. "My magic should do the trick!"  
She carefully positioned her horn to try an unlocking spell she'd learned. But Sol got in the way of it by kicking the door down using his foot.  
Twilight knew Sol was strong, but not THAT strong. Feeling burned, she ran on past the fallen door.  
"Wait," shouted Sol after her, "where do ya think you're going without me?"  
"I'm going to fight," she shouted back at him, "I'm going to fight whether you like it or not! And that's.."  
Her last word was lost when she bumped into something. When she saw it, she didn't move an inch. Sol got to her and said, "What's wrong now?"  
He looked to his left and saw a huge device. It was an interlocked collective of golden rings encircling a ball of energy.  
"An original bio war machine. Whoever created all this is nuts."  
"Bi..bi...big..big.."  
"Why'd you stop? Are you...oh." Sol saw what was in the way. It was a dog. A big, mutant dog.  
He guessed that this one was not man's best friend. No, more like man's worst enemy.  
"Big dog," cried Twilight, "B..big dog! Aaah!"  
"Still think you can take this one all on your own?"  
She was afraid, but didn't want to let Sol see her quit. She took a few steps closer to the canine. Then she used her magic to try and lift it into the air.  
But it was heavy. Really heavy. She was able to get one of its paws off the ground. That was until the dog pushed it back down, cancelling out her spell.  
That spell was all Twilight had to fight this one. So she accepted defeat for now and retreated behind Sol.  
"Why," asked Twilight, "couldn't I get it off the ground? That spell always works!"  
"Maybe where you're from," replied Sol, "but this is a chimera type of dog."  
"Chimera?"  
"Yeah. I can tell from the wings of bone on its back. A chimera's basically a hodge-podge of body parts. With the weight of the parts inside that dog added to its own,  
of course it'd weigh a ton."  
Twilight felt ashamed. She really thought her spell would work.  
"Guess that means...I won't be of any help here, either."  
Sol gave the downhearted pony a nice pet on her mane. "I promise, the next enemy is all yours. This one is all mine."  
After he made sure Twilight was safely behind him, Sol walked up to the dog beast, cocked his head at it, and said, "So...how we doing this? You wanna fight, or.."  
That's when the dog propelled its body at Sol, knocking him down. It used its paws to put its weight down on the man's shoulders. Sol pushed back against the dog's  
jaws as it gnashed its teeth close to his face, trying to take a bite out of him. Using his right foot, he kicked the dog off of him and got back on his feet. He was right.  
This dog was heavy. It had taken more than the usual amount of strength to get it off of him.  
"Man," said Sol, almost out of breath, "I'd better put an end to this quick."  
He had to get serious if he wanted to win. Sol stood upright with his feet apart and his arms at his sides. And with his knuckles bared, out of his mouth  
he screamed two words:

"DRAGON INSTALL!"

Sol's body was now gleaming red. He let out a roar that not only filled the room, but made the chimera dog whimper. It took a step back. This gave Sol room to  
attack. He got face to face with the dog and started to punch it without mercy. Each punch that hit the chimera's face left one of Sol's fists covered with its blood.  
Twilight felt pity for the poor creature as she watched this ensuing, one-sided battle. The man's assault on the dog's face soon came to an end. All the blows he'd  
dealt made the dog dizzy. Sol didn't let up though; he gave it a powerful Volcanic Viper uppercut, then went into a 35 HIT Combo in midair. On the last hit, he  
grabbed the dog's waist with both hands and threw it down, right on its back. The floor was matted with the imprint of the chimera dog and its blood. Twilight  
shuddered. That was hard to watch. Seeing that the dog wasn't going anywhere, he looked down at it and said, "Good fight, huh?"  
Then he motioned to Twilight that they were going and she ran after him. She was happy that he'd won, but still in the dumps about not doing much to help.  
"Hey, Sol?"  
"Yeah, Twilight?"  
"I'm sorry. I rushed in without thinking..I thought I could do it without you and almost got myself killed. I should've known my magic wouldn't work."  
"Hold on. You've been with me since we left that mansion. And you did help me out while we were there."  
"I suppose. But still, I feel as if I could do more."  
Her hooves came to a stop when she saw Sol kick an object.  
"Sol, look!"  
Sol looks down to see a stray book kicked open by his foot. As he picks it up, Twilight secretly hopes that it contained more info on the nature of humanity.  
"It looks like," said Sol after inspecting the cover, "An experiment log book."  
"Awww!"  
"You were expecting something else?" Sol then turned to a page bookmarked with a date from two weeks ago and began to read it.  
"_November 26th_. _Finally, I have found it_. _My calculations are true_._ With this_, _I shall become_..._level of cooperative subjects_..._inhabitants of Isene_...the Wind Tower?"  
"Sol! Stop skimming and read the whole thing!"  
Ignoring the pony's words, he abruptly shuts the book and reads the cover.  
"On the cover, there's an inscription. It says..._'Raymond'_."  
"Raymond?"  
"Maybe he's the guy who can tell me what happened to this island."  
"And maybe," said Twilight, "he knows of a way I can get back home."  
"We'll see."  
Sol put the journal in Twilight's saddle bag and they moved on, eventually reaching a big hole in the wall. From the burns left on the edges of the hole, Sol guessed  
this was where that big dog spawned from. He took a look back at the chimera dog and saw that it was gone. He chose not to tell Twilight about this, hoping that the  
canine just went away.  
Past the busted wall, Twilight and Sol walk into a place that, in Sol's opinion, could pass for a decent hell. It was your ordinary kind of cavern. Except with flowing  
lava and countless skeletons in the walls. Twilight felt the heat rise under her hooves and began to hop up and down.  
"Wah! This...cave...is...too...HOT!"  
"Hold on," said Sol as he tried to get to her, "if you can just stay still, I can.."  
But Sol couldn't get her while she was hopping around like that. She hopped off and on the steaming floor until the little pony's flank landed on something white.  
It had the the body of a tortoise and appeared to be a large robotic lizard. Its large grinning mouth gave Twilight a scare. But it didn't react to the pony's presence  
on its back. Sol checked out the creature and smiled.  
"Hah, seems this guy's friendly."  
"Are you sure," asked Twilight in a doubtful tone. "Every beast or creature here has tried to kill us!"  
"Yeah. But this one's calm. I don't think he'll mind being our ride out of here. Isn't that right, you turtle...thing, you."  
Sol got on the tortoise beast's shell with Twilight and used his feet to kick its sides, much like a horse owner would do to command his horse to move.  
The robotic tortoise moved. It was slow, but at least they were getting somewhere. All of a sudden, the ground began to shake.  
"What's going on," asked Twilight. "Is it an earthquake?"  
The sound of a howl close by told Sol otherwise. "No...it's much worse."  
The howl had made the power of the earthquake grow, making rocks fall from the ceiling above.  
"Come on, turtle," said Sol to the calm, complacent beast. "Move a little faster, will ya?"  
Dodging falling rocks proved to be a challenge while riding on the turtle. At one point, Twilight suggested they get off of it and run out of the cavern on foot.  
But Sol reminded her that the rocks were too hot for her to move on. He asked Twilight if she wanted to ride on his head again, but she told him that they would  
be leaving the robot tortoise to die if she did. Yet Sol could tell that this wasn't the real reason. Minutes passed. The earthquake didn't stop, and another howl made it stronger. And from the depths of the cavern came the mutated chimera dog. This time, however, its body was covered in a maelstrom of flames. Twilight gaped in  
terror, but Sol glared at the sight of the chimera. "I knew he'd be back," said Sol.  
"What do we do," asked Twilight, clinging to the tortoise.  
"I'll fight it, of course."  
"But your sword uses the power of fire, right? Won't that be ineffective to use on a monster made of the same element?"  
"Oh, yeah. I guess."  
Sol got off the robot tortoise and approached the flaming canine. Recalling the one who beat it down, the chimera dog lunged at him. Sol used a foot to kick the dog's  
muzzle, then kicked it again in a Bandit Revolver spin. The dog howled in agony, causing more rocks to fall. One of the rocks fell on Sol's head. But this time, Sol  
passed out from the pain.  
Twilight couldn't believe it. Sol's tough! Really tough! How could this happen?  
"Darn it, Sol! Get up! Don't give up on me now!" She looked up at the falling ceiling of stone. Then back to the chimera dog. If it got any closer to Sol, it'd most  
certainly kill him. Twilight wanted to help, but the rocks were too hot to move on. In frustration, she hit the tortoise beast with her hoof. When she did, it responded by firing a laser out of its mouth. The laser cut a solid line near the dog and released an instant explosion. This got the dog's attention off of Sol and on Twilight. It moved over Sol's body and moved up to her, trying to claw at her face. Twilight hit the side of the tortoise again and it used its tail to swipe the dog off its feet. She  
saw the canine helpless on its side, in pain from the new form of its body burning itself up. Twilight considered the thought of sparing it any more pain. But when the dog swerved its body to set its eyes back on Sol, she kicked the side of tortoise again for it to fire its laser. The laser hit the chimera dog's head and exploded, blowing the canine's skull to pieces. The little pony felt her body shiver from what she'd just done. Never before had she thought she would have the potential to do  
something like that to a living thing.  
A rumble from the cave falling apart let her know that this was no time to think. She and Sol were still in danger. Ignoring the pain of the hot rocks on her hooves,  
she got off the tortoise and ran to Sol. She manages to pull him on her back and drags him back to the tortoise. Once she throws him on its back, she kicks the  
tortoise to move. And with the help of its slow movement, they all make it out of the cavern. Now outside of the cave, a howl could be heard behind them. At first,  
Twilight feared the dog would be back. But following the howl, more rocks fell in the cavern, burying the way back in.  
There was no way back there anymore. And no way for that chimera to follow us, thought Twilight.  
She turned her head back to the road that lay ahead of them. Only a little ways off from where they were was a tower. She remembered the words Sol read from the journal. "The Wind Tower. Is it the same tower from the book?"  
She rode the tortoise closer to it. From the entrance to the tower, Twilight could see someone was approaching. She couldn't make out the face, for the fumes from  
the cavern's lava had blurred her eyesight. Even up close, she couldn't see the man's face.  
"Who are you?"  
"A friend," said the man.  
Then a hand shoved a wet, damp cloth on Twilight's face. The smell of the cloth made her sleepy. She tried to stay awake, but the scent overpowered her senses.  
Before she passed out, she saw the image of Sol, still out cold atop the tortoise.

"Sol...no!"

And with that, she fell into darkness. Thud.


	6. Chapter 6: Man of Dark Ambition, Raymond

The Tower of Wind, according to the journal, was the place where an event of unknown importance was going to occur. What was not known about the tower was that  
it was filled with a flurry of traps and monsters awaiting the unwary traveller. Only one man knew how to circumvent the deadly snares within. And that man was  
about to reach the very top of the tower. He was taking an elevator of carnivalesque design to the top. Once the elevator reached the last floor, the man stepped off.  
He walked on a patch of grass, then on to a surface with a cracked piece of stonework. It was a worn-out piece of architectural beauty. The only thing that made it  
look presentable now was the gate that kept the stone within the boundary of the rooftop. The man walked up to the gate and stopped there, watching in silence at the light on the placid mountains given off by the setting sun.  
What he carried under his right arm was the body of a creature. The saddle bag that she'd been wearing was gone. And so were the books stored inside of it.  
The little pony began to stir, coming back to life. She could barely lift her gaze to look in the eyes of her abductor.  
"Hello, there," said the man. "How are you doing, my little pony?"  
"I...ergh..." Twilight was still out of it. "Where...is...Sol...?"  
"Sol? You mean that brutish trash man? He's gone. You need not worry about that simpleton any longer."  
Those words snapped Twilight back to herself. Her eyes opened wide as she said,  
"What? Where is he? And where's my book? What did you do to him, you jerk!"  
"What did I DO? I didn't DO anything. I simply led a horse to water and...watched it fall in."  
Twilight gasped. "The tortoise!"  
"Oh, yes," said the man with a chuckle, "that's the horse."  
Not wishing to be anywhere near the man a minute more, Twilight struggled to break away. But he had a firm hold on her body already.  
"Stop..doing that!"  
"Let me go! I..have to go find Sol!"  
"It's no good. He's gone. There was nothing you could do about it. So quit being so difficult and listen!"  
She couldn't get away, and he wouldn't let go. So Twilight growled at the man and said, "Fine. But whatever you have to say won't change my mind about you!"  
"Really? Even if I told you that I knew of a way to get you back to your home?"  
The pony felt a spark run through her mind.  
"That's right," continued the man. "I know how to get you back to your home, Ponyville."  
"How...did you know I was from Ponyville?"  
"I have my ways, little pony. Now we can either talk about how I came across this information...or you can help me to help you get back to your home."  
Twilight didn't know about this. The man claimed to have taken Sol's life and somehow knew things about her that she only told Sol about. She did not want to trust  
anything he had to say. But with Sol gone, she felt alone. So very alone in this dark world of mystery. She felt mixed feelings of both anger and despair. Twilight  
wanted to honor Sol's memory, but...she did not want to be all by herself here.  
"Sol," she whispered under her breath, "I'm so sorry."  
"What was that?"  
"I'll do it."  
"Good! Now that we're on the same team, I think introductions are in order."  
The man then put Twilight on the ground, giving her a chance to get a better look at him.  
He was a blonde-haired man with green eyes hidden behind thin, oval glasses. The fringe of his hair covered one of his eyes from view.  
He wore a white collared shirt, a brown, buttoned overcoat, and blue slacks that were complemented by his brown leather shoes. He took a bow, extending  
his hand to her in greeting. "My name is Raymond. I'm a researcher. And you?"  
Twilight smacked his hand, refusing to touch it. "My name is Twilight Sparkle! And that's all I'll tell you, you monster!"  
Raymond frowned. "Are we not all monsters...on the inside?"  
Twilight didn't respond. She only growled at him. "Then let's get down to it, shall we? I am aware that you are a...magical kind of pony, yes?"  
Still wearing an angry expression, Twilight nodded.  
"And you have the ability to cast spells. Is that also correct?"  
"So what's your point?"  
Raymond sighed. "So much anger in such a cute little thing. Well, I need you to cast a spell that can stabilize a portal."  
"A portal?"  
"Yes! A portal. This portal is something I've been working on for awhile. But with my limited knowledge on spatial warp and dimensional travel,  
I could only open a portal lasting for only 60 seconds before it closed. With your magic, I can keep it open long enough for me to...I mean, for you to go through it."  
As it turned out, Twilight did know a spell like that. It was a spell she first used on Pinkie Pie's cupcakes to keep them fresh that one night when her fridge broke down due to being destroyed in one of her parties.  
"So, Twilight," said Raymond with a smile, "will you help me finish my research?"  
"I don't care about your research! I just want to go home."  
"Good enough. Okay, I will only need a few seconds..."  
And that's when Raymond looked off at the mountains. He closed his eyes. Then an electric jolt began to form in front of him. It sliced the air, ripping a hole in space.  
The hole formed into a magical mass of energy, flickering as it tried to keep itself open.  
Twilight was struck by amazement. "This portal! It feels as if I'm being sucked in!"  
"Now, Twilight! Your spell!"  
Distracted by the force of the mystical rip in space, Twilight almost missed her cue. But she cast her spell in time, firing a shot of her purple-themed magic  
at the portal. At first, it seemed the spell had failed. Then the portal changed shape, opening wide enough to reveal what was on the other side. Raymond was  
smiling from ear to ear at the sight of the world beyond the portal's gaze. But Twilight was not impressed by what she saw.  
"But...that doesn't look at all Ponyville!"

"That's because it's the portal to the Underworld."

Hearing a familiar voice, Twilight turned to see the image of a powerful man standing near the tower elevator. He looked real banged up with scratches on his face  
and the wear and tear of battle on his clothes. But his spiky hair remained as wild and free as it had ever been. Still, the little pony couldn't believe her eyes. It was...  
"SOL! You're alive!"  
She dashed to him and hugged his leg.  
"Barely," said Sol with a angry smirk aimed at Raymond. "I found myself at the bottom of a cliff lying on top of that turtle. The poor guy cushioned my fall.  
But then, how'd I get down there in the first place? Care to enlighten me, Raymond?"  
The man called Raymond didn't react much to Sol's return from the dead. "Oh, I knew you'd show up soon enough, Sol. I've been expecting you."  
"You jackass. I'm gonna kill you."  
"I'd like to stay and chat, but I've got things to do, places to be."  
Sol took a step closer to Raymond, being sure to use the leg currently not held prisoner by Twilight's snuggling.  
"You think I'm just gonna sit here and let you get away?"  
"I expected you to say that. So I've prepared a little something for you. It's all yours!"  
There was a rumbling noise. Then what looked to be a big ball of freaky rolls in next to Raymond. The hideous sphere opened up to show itself to be a centipede-type  
creature. It had four arms total, each having a tusk of dark goldenrod on it, and it was three times in height compared to Sol. Overall, you could say its lower half was  
centipede, and its upper half, mainly the head, represented the head of a xenomorph from those Alien movies. The only difference here were the creature's four  
bulging, red eyes and the colors it maintained. The beast screeched at Sol and slammed down its tail, making him almost lose his balance.  
"This guy," said Twilight, annoyed, "he's such a...he's a real...!"  
"Yeah," agreed Sol, "he's really getting on my nerves, too."  
"I'm sure," mocked Raymond, "you two will enjoy the fruits of my research. If you're still alive, that is."  
Then the bastard laughed as he leapt backwards into the portal.  
"He's getting away!"  
"Wait, Sol! Don't we have to take care of this guy, first?"  
Sol glanced up at the monstrous roly poly abomination, feeling tired.  
"Hm. I already fought my way up here. But I wouldn't mind kicking one more ass before we end this."  
Twilight was pumped. She let go of Sol's leg and stood brave in the face of the hideous creature.  
"Hey, Sol? How 'bout we take this thing for a ride?"  
"Yeah," said Sol with a dark grin, "to hell!"  
Without a moment's worth of hesitation, they ran towards the roly poly horror. Twilight's horn glowed bright as Sol drew his sword and set it ablaze.

While the heated battle against the roly poly of death took place, something of signifigance was also happening in Equestria. Within the grand castle of Canterlot, a pony known to be the royal figure of admiration and hope was busy in the Canterlot Archives. Using her magic, Princess Celestia was flipping through the pages of  
four books at a time. Once she was done with them, she relinquished her magical hold and let them fall, using her magic to pick up four new books from the  
bookcase. She kept doing this process until she came across a blue book with the page she was looking for. She drops the other books and pulls the blue one closer  
to her face, reading the words on the page in a low voice.  
"Aha," said the Princess feeling satisfied with her search results, "this is it. The spell I was looking for!"  
She read the words from the book aloud, waving her horn through the air and guiding a swirl of her magic to follow. Once she finished her incantation, she fired a  
burst of powerful magic at a wall, opening up a portal.  
"If I'm right, that should've done it."  
She trotted up to the portal. And after a minute of studying what she saw on the other side, poked her head in.

Sol swung his sword at the third and last roly poly monster, cutting its head clean off. The beast's head screamed as it floundered on the ground, until it could no  
longer breathe. He looked down with some pity at the horrible thing and shook his head.  
"I'd like to think this could've gone another way. But the only thing that was probably on your mind was to kill me up, huh?"  
"Sol," said Twilight who wagged one of her hooves at him, "don't taunt the dead!"  
Sol chuckled as he turned to her. "And what do you think you're doing up there?"  
Twilight was idly sitting on the back of the first roly poly monster they killed. She rubbed its shell with her hoof.  
"I'm taking him for a ride, whaddya think I'm doing?"  
"You actually meant that?"  
"Yeah! Poor thing. He didn't put up as much of a fight as I calculated he would."  
"Haha, okay. Enough of these guys. We gotta go after Raymond." Sol walked up to the portal still kept open by Twilight's magic and waited for Twilight.  
She was about to jump off the roly poly's back when she heard a friendly voice call out to her.

"Wow! Looks like somepony doesn't need my help."

Twilight looked down from her dead roly poly steed to see the head of Princess Celestia sticking out of another portal. It was near the tower elevator, facing the  
opposite side of the first portal. Twilight's face lit up with excitement. She hopped off the poly's back and dashed to the Princess in under three seconds, a personal  
best for Twilight.  
"Princess Celestia!"  
She hugged her arms around the Princesses' neck and closed her eyes. She was about to break into tears.  
"Calm down," said the Princess in a consoling voice. "I'm here. It's going to be alright, my dear Twilight."  
"Whoa!" said Sol on seeing the size of Princess Celestia's head. "That's one big pony. I think I'll stay over here."  
Twilight turned to Sol with a big expression of cuteness. Her eyes were dangerously adorable, making Sol feel even more ill at ease.  
"It's the Princess! She's a good friend of mine! Come here and say hi!"  
"Twilight is right, Mister...um, Sol, was it? I don't bite. And I'd like to meet the man responsible for protecting my favorite student."  
"Most of the credit," said Sol as he began walking up to them, "belongs to her. When danger reared its ugly mug, she took care of it herself."  
"Oh! Is that true, Twilight?"  
"Y-yes, Princess," said Twilight, her face blushing red. "I was in some tough spots, but I somehow found the courage to survive."  
"Wonderful! And the best part is, you can finally come home."  
"Yeah...I guess," said Twilight now feeling a little down, "that's true."  
She looked up at Sol. Twilight could already tell that she and he both knew what was coming next.  
"Well, I guess," Sol said, "this is goodbye, Sparkle."  
"I suppose so."  
He got down on one knee and gave her a nice pet on her head.  
"If it helps, I'll try to not forget you." That made Twilight feel a little happier.  
"I won't forget you either, Sol."  
"Hey, how about one for me, Mister Sol?"  
Sol looked up. The snout of the Princess was close to his face. There was that awkward feeling, again.  
"One of what?"  
The Princess frowned, making Twilight frown at Sol as well. He knew very well what she meant. The man groaned. He lifted his hand and pet the royal pony's mane.  
"Is that good?"  
The Princess was really getting into it. "Mmmmm...yes, this is nice."  
Then Sol felt a hoof on his back. It pulled him closer to the Princess. Once her mouth was close to his ear, she whispered to him:  
"Now tell me I'm a bad girl."  
"What?"  
"Tell me I've been a bad girl...just once before we part. Please?"  
Wanting to get away from this weird moment, Sol pulled away from the Princess. He pointed at the other portal and said,  
"I should get going before that portal closes."  
The Princess snorted, feeling pouty. But to keep up her appearance in front of Twilight, she forced a smile and said, "Well, then I wish you the best of luck."  
Sol then walked back to the portal. Twilight watched as he went in and vanished on the other side. The little pony felt happy that she was finally going home.  
But for some reason, she didn't feel like this was okay. They'd been venturing through this place for so long. All to find a crazy man bent on some evil plan.  
And that man...Sol was going after him all alone! It may have been only Sol's mission at the start. But now, Twilight felt as if it was her mission, too.  
She didn't want to let Sol finish this by himself. She hesitated, but then she began to walk over to the other portal.  
"Twilight? Where are you going?"  
She looked back at the Princess with tears in her eyes. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but...I have to go after him."  
"But what about Ponyville? What about all of your friends?"  
"They'll have to wait," said Twilight, trying to be strong. "I never gave him my word on it. But I still want to help Sol bring that man to justice!  
It's something I have to do, Princess."  
"Wait, Twilight!"  
Then Twilight ran. She ran on a straight course to the other portal and jumped in, the voice of the Princess calling after her. This was it. She'd just passed up on a  
free ticket back home. For all she knew, there was no other way back. But she didn't care. She fell deeper into the stygian blackness of the dark world, picking up speed. Then she saw a friendly patch of brown hair walking along the surface below. She opened up her arms, as if she was about to hug it, and fell faster. Sol got a sense that something was off and turned his head to see a falling object heading right for him.  
"What the?"  
He opened up his arms, ready to catch whatever was coming his way. When the two bodies connected, it was Sol who was pushed back with extreme force.  
He felt a little pain in his chest, then looked down in his arms to see Twilight's eyes staring up at him.  
"Nice catch!"  
"What do you think you're doing? You were supposed to go back home."  
"Yes, but I...I didn't want you to have all the fun!"  
"Fun?"  
"Yeah! You think you're going to take down that jerk, Raymond, all by yourself? Nu-uh! I'm coming with you and making sure the job gets done!"  
Sol chuckled at Twilight's bluff. "You know, I'm acutally fine with you being here. This place...is all kinds of strange."  
Twilight then had a look at this new, sullen world. An unending mist drifted on the ground. There were chains...everywhere. Hooks, axes, and daggers of all kinds  
hung from some of those chains. And from further away, she could see the lifeless body of a human being hanging on one of the hooks. She felt a sick feeling in her  
throat. "I think," she said, "I'm going to puke. Hrrup!"  
Sol held her head to his chest, stroking her mane softly. "It's gonna be okay...it's gonna be okay. Just don't puke up on me."  
"Okay."  
"I got a feeling that Raymond's up ahead. Ready to beat up a nerd?"  
"Hey! That's offensive to bookworms like me!"  
"Oh, what I meant was..."  
"Hah, I know! It's okay, Sol."  
Twilight broke out of Sol's arms and got behind him, jumping on his back.  
"I thought you didn't like riding back there anymore?"  
"Yeah," said Twilight as she got on top of his head, "but when I did the math, I realized that statistically we stand a better chance working together  
than as two separate units."  
"I see. It's good to have my number one teammate back."  
Twilight looked down when she heard this.  
"Hey, I don't think I apologized to you yet."  
"Apologized?" Twilight didn't think Sol did anything bad. "For what?"  
"For holding you back from fighting back in the mine. I should have trusted you and let you fight. You were only trying to help."  
And that made Twilight feel even worse.  
"It's okay, Sol. It's...okay."  
Sol starting walking through the dark space of this land of death. For a while, there was a silence in the air. Then Sol spoke.  
"You're so quiet all of sudden. Something I said?"  
"No, it's just," she said in a sadder tone, "back on the tower, when I thought you had died...I...I..."  
"You helped Raymond."  
Twilight gasped. "How did you..?"  
"It's alright."  
"But Sol, I betrayed you!"  
"You were desperate. You wanted to get back to your home. And so you did whatever you had to do."  
Twilight still felt like she'd wronged him. She hugged his neck in deep regret, feeling lesser than garbage.  
"Getting hard to talk," said Sol.  
"Sorry."  
"He tricked you, anyway. This portal didn't go to Ponyville, as you can see."  
"Yeah. It sure didn't. Where are we?"  
"I don't know. But from the bad taste in decor, I'd say it's Hades. Or Hell, to be exact."  
Twilight was curious. "Sol, what's hell?"  
"What is hell? Well..." Sol didn't know where to start. So he asked her a question. "Do you and your kind have religion where you're from?"  
The little pony put a hoof in the air, thinking of what he meant by the word. "We have a Princess! Remember the pony you were scared of from before?"  
"That white giant?"  
"She's the ruler of Equestria, as well as Ponyville. That is, next to Mayor Mare. Though...except for her speeches, I'm not sure what she really does for Ponyville."  
"So, no higher beings, then?"  
"What do you mean by...higher beings?"  
"Nothing."  
He usually didn't consider the opinions of others important. But he didn't think that Twilight should have to hear about the religious nature of humans.  
"Look," Twilight pointed out, "there he is!"  
Just a few meters ahead, there he was. A blonde-haired man was observing a huge, skull-faced monster as it slept. Injected in its head were tanks of strange,  
brown liquids. And a metallic face plate was attached to the monster's face and chin. Truly an ugly sort of monster, it was.  
"Raymond."  
The blonde man turned to face Sol and Twilight. He looked absolutely ecstatic.  
"Ah, good to see you two, again! Look here, this is Inus, the king of the other world and cornerstone of my research. You can feel his powerful presence even as he rests. Isn't it so spectacular?"  
"Not really," said Twilight, feeling appauled from the skull-headed creature's face. "He looks like he needs a face-lift."  
"You don't plan on screwing with this guy," said Sol, "do you? You're starting to get really predictable."  
Raymond's happy mood quickly turned to anger. "You shall regret those words soon."  
Then a low, but clearly heard roar came from the skull head. Raymond was suddenly afraid.  
"...! What is going on?" He turned his head to see the mouth of Inus opened wide. It chomped over Raymond's entire body, devouring him in one big bite.  
"What," said Twilight incredulously, "the heck just happened?"  
"He was munched...to death. Pac-Man, eat your heart out."  
"So what do we do now, Sol?"  
"Since the guy's dead, I'd say we're done here. We have to find a way out of this place. And since that portal's bound to have closed itself by now.."  
Sol was about to walk away from the hulking skull head. But as it began to rigidly move its jaws, it spoke.

"Anyone...who interrupts my deep rest..."

"Umm, Sol?" Twilight pointed back at the skull-headed creature.  
"I know, Twilight," replied Sol, "I know."

"Anyone...who interrupts my sleep...shall go to hell!"

"So the bastard leaves us yet another nice parting gift. We'll have to kick this guy's ass, as well."  
"Or he'll send us to hell!"

Sol laughed. "Come on, Twilight, knock it off! This is serious."  
"Sorry! Just trying to stay upbeat about this."  
Sol's muscles tensed up. Twilight held on tighter to the back of his head.  
Then Inus snarled, summoning a wall of spikes, daggers, bear traps, scythes, and other sharp tools behind them.


	7. Chapter 7: The Final Battle that Awaits

"Damn!"  
Red, slimy ooze began to shoot from the ground, forming into skull heads. Sol jumped back to keep one of them from touching him. Once they missed  
their target, the red skulls fell apart, back into the ooze from whence they came.  
"Close one," said Twilight.  
More skulls popped up. Sol bypassed them in a run, going for Inus. The skull monster then started to blow a heavy wind from its jaws, pushing Sol and Twilight's  
backs closer to the wall of impaling traps.  
"This is bad! Really bad! Can you run any faster, Sol?"  
"I'm trying, damn it!"  
Things got worse as Inus summoned a long chain that oozed out of the ground. It flew at Sol, gashing his right arm.  
He fell to a knee, holding on to an arm now spilling out with blood.  
"Ugh!"  
"Sol!"  
Twilight tried to use her magic to heal the wound, but Sol grabbed her horn to stop her. "Focus on the bastard, not me."  
"Um, okay!"  
With a loud growl, Inus had stopped trying to blow them against the wall of traps and fired out a green wave of energy. Twilight saw it and intercepted with a spell  
that created a purple, transparent wall. The wave broke off when it hit her magic wall. That made the skull head angrier. It fired out two more waves of green energy.  
They hit Twilight's magic wall, weakening the spell and her as a result. Seeing the wall she conjured up, Sol got an idea.  
"How long can you hold that wall up?"  
"A little longer," said Twilight, sweating drops as she tried to hold up the spell, "but I can't hold it forever! Agh!"  
"That's all the time I need. Hold on tight!"  
Sol made another run for Inus as the creature fired more green waves in retaliation. Twilight's magic wall blocked them well. Then Inus summoned three more bloody skulls of red ooze. Sol scaled the top of their heads, giving him enough leverage to make one big leap to the skull-headed monster. Just inches from its face, Twilight lowered her magic wall. That was when as Sol drew back his fist and threw it forward, sending a burst of erupting fire at the creature. The wildfire ate up the skull thing's face. But before the fire could destroy Inus completely, two words had to be said first. Sol gave Twilight a grin. She knew what he wanted her to do.

Together, they shouted the name of the ultimate attack into the black sky:  
"Tyrant...RAAAVE!"

And then, Inus was dead. The flames had overtaken the monster, leaving a bloodied half of its skull head behind.  
"You know," said Sol to Twilight, "we really do make a good team."  
"Really?"  
"Yeah. I think that bastard would've injured me worse if I didn't have you here."  
"Oh, stop!" Twilight was happy that they had won the day. And for that moment, she didn't care about how she was going to get back to her home.  
"Hey, Sol?"  
"Yeah?"  
"I just noticed something."  
"What?"  
"You curse a lot."  
Sol laughed. "Yeah, it's a bad habit. But it's part of who I am. Maybe you should try it."  
Twilight waved her hooves at him, "No way! I have to be as clean, proper, and studious as possible! I pride myself on my...wait."  
Just then, the little pony noticed else. Something she found to be odd.  
"Hey, uh...are skulls...supposed to catch on fire, Sol?"  
He looked at what Twilight had her eyes on. It was Inus' skull, and it was on fire.  
"No, Twilight," he said in a serious tone of voice. "They're not."  
The skull was enveloped in roaring flames, forming into a tunnel of fire that went up into the air. In the swirling torrent, the figure of a man began to form.  
Soon the flames dissipated. Standing in place of Inus' skull head was a being with the hair of a Super Saiyan, the muscular body of a bodybuilder, skin that  
was as black as coal, and a sphere of energy in a place similar to the core in Iron Man's chest. The sorcerer robes he wore did not hide his body under wraps,  
but rather showed off the rippling muscles in his arms, abdomen, and legs. He floated in the air, taking in the beauty of his new body for a while. Then, he spoke.  
"You think this is over? No, this is only the beginning." And from his voice, Sol knew who this man was.  
"Raymond!" How did you...?"  
"My research is a success. I thank you."  
"No," said Twilight, "that's Raymond? What has he done to himself?"  
"I've successfully taken over the powers of the king of the other world. How did I do it, you ask?"  
"I'm not all that curious to know. Twilight, how bout you?"  
Twilight shook her head. "I am slightly interested in how he changed his appearance so drastically. But really, I don't want to know the whole story."  
"What's that," said Raymond in spite of their words. "You want to know? Sure, I'll explain it all to you."  
Twilight and Sol groan, tired of dealing with this menace.  
"I've put in endless hours of research to find a way to exceed the powers of Gear and one day I came up with the idea of using monsters from the other world...  
that fusing them would lead to immense power."  
Sol yawned at the story of Raymond's life, but he paid him no mind and went on with it. "But there was a problem. The overwhelming power of the monster makes  
it tough to maintain one's identity. You risk being taken over by the host. I spent long hours trying to find a way to combat this problem, and came up with a  
solution."  
"You know, Raymond," said Twilight, trying to put a stop to the man's raving, "if my friend, Pinkie Pie, were here...she would have only one word for this story:  
Boooooring!"  
To that comment, Sol and Twilight shared a brohoof. But the man still went on, keeping a cool mind about it.  
"By integrating myself initially to the host's body, then removing the monster's identity would allow me to maintain my own identity while taking over  
the monster's powers."  
"So you risked it all for that. You really are nuts, man."  
"No, this was all based on exact calculation. Leading you all the way here and using a bio war machine to measure your strength in the process.  
I used that info to save Inus' power from inside, since there's no point in killing Inus if it's after I had lost my own identity. Oh, I almost forgot to thank the people of  
this island! Though I'm sure they feel the sacrifices they made were for a great cause."  
"So that's what happened?" Twilight was mad now. "You turned the humans here into monsters for your own sick goals? You...BASTARD!"  
"Whoa, Twilight!" Sol couldn't believe that Ms. Prim and Proper Pony just cursed.  
"Well, he is!"  
But Raymond merely shrugged at her words. "I swear, this has been quite the experience for me. But I'd better get going. I'm a busy man now, as newly crowned  
ruler of both worlds."  
"You know that I'm not letting you get away again."  
"Don't worry, Sol. I won't run and I won't hide. As being the contributors to my research, I'd like to invite you two to my party. Hahaha..."  
Then a portal opened up behind Raymond. In a flash of light, everyone had disappeared inside the portal.  
When the white flash faded, Sol and Twilight found themselves in a new place. It had the look of a shabby, medieval dungeon.  
"Where," asked Twilight, "are we, Sol? How'd we get here?"  
"No clue," said Sol. "But I'm thinkin' Raymond had something to do with it."  
"Welcome to my castle," said a voice. It seemed to be coming from out of nowhere.  
"Raymond!"  
"You two are my very first guests. You deserve a very warm welcome."  
Just then, hoards of monsters oozed out from the ground. They approached our heroes like zombies, getting closer with every step.  
"Enjoy the party!"  
"Oh, I'll enjoy it, alright," said Twilight, not liking his joke. "Right after I stuff my hooves in your eye sockets!"  
The monsters began to converge on them. Sol held up his sword for the fight coming their way, picking out the weak ones from the strong ones.  
"What a bunch of weaklings. I'll smash 'em and then we can...huh?"  
But Twilight had lost her patience. She had already dashed into the group of monsters and rammed one of them in the stomach.  
"You punks are going DOOOWN!"  
"Hey, leave some for me!"  
Sol joined in, bashing the head of a hopper beast before throwing one of his Bandit Revolver kicks at a gargoyle in flight. It was hours until they slew all the monsters  
in their way and reached a large staircase, leading up to a single room.  
"This," said Twilight out of breath, "must be where that coward is hiding. Come on, Sol! Let's get him!"  
"Twilight."  
"Yeah?"  
"We need to come up with a strategy to beat Raymond."  
"Here? Now?"  
"If we go in there without a plan, we'll get our butts handed to us."  
Sol was right. Going into a fight without a carefully thought-out plan of action was something only a rash pony would do.  
And that stunt she pulled back there with those monsters was a good example of what not do.  
"But we don't know what this version of Raymond can do! How do we make a plan of action for an enemy we know nothing about?"  
"Well, we do know what kind of man he is."  
"How does that help?"  
"Come here. I'll explain it to you."  
"Okay."

The pony huddled in close to Sol as he told her the plan.

Just above the staircase where Twilight and Sol were, Raymond was in his throne room. He moved here and there, using his power to create statues of himself and  
smashing them to bits when he found them to be imperfect.  
"No, this one won't do. Not at all! It has to be perfect, like me!"  
He imagined the perfect statue of himself in his brain. When it came to him, he snapped his fingers.  
"Eureka! I've got it!"  
It was then that Sol and Twilight arrived. Raymond could see they had the certainty of victory on their faces.  
"Oh, it's you two. How did you enjoy the party? Did you have a gay old time?"  
"Shut the heck up," said Sol,"you crazy bastard."  
"And get ready," said Twilight who had run out of mercy, "to get a serious buck from me!"  
"Fools! You think YOU can challenge ME? I am unstoppable! The world needs someone like me. It needs a leader who can bring it out of the darkness and  
into the light."  
"Don't try and screw with us. All you want is power and a way to justify that."  
"Like you, there was once a man who preached justice..."  
"What!" The name reminded Sol of a face from his past.  
"But justice failed and collapsed like a house of cards, unable to cast light upon the darkness. Yes, the one most suited to rule over the world is not justice...  
...it's the judge!"  
And that's when Raymond hunched down, his eyes on the floor. Out of his back sprouted dark brown vines with yellow stripes. They soon morphed into a ring of giant slabs of steel decorated with golden eyeballs. The vines ensnared his wrists and morphed too, but into chains that connected him to the ring of slabs now at his back. He levitated into the air and spread his arms. "I am no longer Raymond. My name...is JUDGMENT! And I will rule all!"  
"You talk a big game," said Twilight with a sneer, "but can you back it up?"  
"I will teach you to respect me," replied Judgment, "no matter how painful the lesson must be."  
"She's not scared," said Sol, "and you know what I think of you. So LET'S ROCK!"

"Yes," agreed the levitating juggernaut with no wit whatsoever. "Let us rock."

And with that, Judgment put his hands together in a Kamehameha wave stance and fired a big ball of purple energy. Twilight ducked under it while Sol went right for it. With one slash of his blade, the energy ball was destroyed. That's when Judgment flew at Sol, his body glowing in a bright purple aura. Sol blocked the attack, but was still knocked over by its force. Sol looked up from the ground to see Judgment now holding a blade behind his back. When he was certain Sol saw it, he swung it forward, intending to cut the mortal man in half. But he forgot about Twilight, who had somehow gotten on his back. She leaned in close to the ear covered partway by his Super Saiyan hairdo and whispered the word: "Gotcha!"  
Then Twilight bit the crap out of his ear! Judgment yowled in pain. This gave Sol the chance to get up and strike. But instead, he stepped back and spoke to Judgment. "Though your face is new, it seems you're still the same moron, Raymond."  
Judgment's rage was at an all-time high, especially with Twilight's teeth sunk in deep in his ear. But now he was being insulted? By a mere mortal?  
He couldn't stand the thought of it.  
"Aaaagh! Damn...you...fools!" His body glowed purple again and he dashed up into the sky, throwing Twilight off.  
He touched down a few meters away, rubbing his ear of the pain.  
"Ugh," said Twilight. "Tastes like loser!"  
"You little...you have no right to call me anything..."  
In a ceremonious pose, Judgment lifted his left arm, making the steel slabs at his back rise. "But your SUPREME KING!"  
Then swords made of pure energy were summoned from the earth. They came close to hitting Twilight, but a flurry of flames travelled in their path,  
reducing them to small particles. Judgment saw that it was Sol's Gun Flame that saved her.  
"Why are you protecting this...thing, anyway? It is a small sample of life that does not deserve to exist!"  
"Buddy," said Sol, "you got some nerve thinking you have the right to claim the world as yours. You're fighting a losing battle here."  
"That's right, Raymond," said Twilight, "maybe you should throw in the towel before you screw up like you did with those monsters."  
"They were experiments for a worthy cause!"  
Twilight laughed. "Yeah, failed experiments! All done by YOU! Raymond!"  
He was at the limit of his rage. As Judgment's body glowed even more, his eyes became burning red. His hand was filled with an awesome power...and he was about  
to use it.  
"I told you fools...my name...IS JUDGMENT!"  
Filled with energy, he fired a beam of pure power from the core in his chest. Again, Twilight ducked his attack.  
"Stop dodging, you incessant piece of...wait.." He surveyed the area, looking for a face that was missing from this picture.  
"Where did that man go?"  
"Looking for me?"  
Behind him, Sol stood there. His sword was drawn, burning with flames.  
"Twilight...NOW!"  
Judgment then switched his view back to the front to see Twilight fire a vast ray of magic at him. At the same time, Sol had sent the flames from his blade flying in  
the form of a dragon at Judgment's back. Once both attacks got to him, it was too late to dodge. The two forms of energy met in the middle, forming a synergistic "X" over Judgment's body. Then a chemical reaction occured, followed by a big explosion. When the smoke faded, Twilight expected to see Judgement on his knees,  
begging for mercy. But on seeing the form of a man floating in midair, her mouth hung open.  
"But...I thought...how the...what?"  
Judgment laughed, amused by the look on the little pony's face.  
"Nice move, you two. But take a good look. My sexy form will be the LAST thing you'll ever see! Huh?"

He looked at Sol, who was giving him a thumbs down. "What is that, your seal of disapproval for me?"  
"No," said Sol with an evil grin. "This is how I say checkmate."

And then suddenly, Judgment couldn't hold himself up anymore. He fell down to his knees. The slabs of steel once at his back had fallen off. And the links which held the chains to his wrists had broken apart. You could tell from the way he was holding his left arm that he was seriously hurt.  
"Grrr...what is going on?"  
"...It's over."  
"What? Why? I thought I had acquired absolute power...everything was supposed to go according to...plan."  
"You made an error. You didn't notice?"  
"What?"  
Sol sighed. "You've already been taken in by Inus. Did you actually think you could continue to exist without the host?"  
That was when Judgment realized the meaning behind his words. Instead of crying outright or cursing his fate, he began to laugh.  
"No," said Judgment, "I can't accept such a result. There's no way I'd make such a...mistake."  
Suddenly, his body started to ooze out with phantoms of grey. He felt weaker and weaker with every ghost that left him.  
"What is this? My power...my power! He...Help..."

"In the end, it's you who will be brought to justice."

"Aaaaaaagh!"  
The phantoms now left in loads from Judgment's body, fading away in the wind. And soon, his body too, followed the same course. He faded away, taking his desire for power and dreams of ruling the world with him. Twilight stared up at the sky after the pieces of the fallen man. She wondered why a human with such talent  
would squander his life away for such a thing as power.  
"I don't think," said Twilight with big, sad eyes, "I'll ever understand."  
"Don't," said Sol as he approached her.  
"Hm?"  
"Don't think about it too much. You'll hurt that big brain of yours if you try. Raymond wanted power. He got it. And he paid the price."  
"But he was a researcher! Granted, he was the one who made those monsters. But...I feel like he had the potential to do more!"  
"Many people in this world have the power to do great things. But just because they have the power...doesn't mean they use it right."  
"How sad. But..." Twilight looked up at Sol, giving him that same cute face that made him feel uneasy.  
"You have power. And you used it to fight off those monsters. You used it to save me. So I guess...not all humans are bad."  
Sol rubbed his shoulder. "Agh, just stop." Sol didn't know how to take a compliment. Especially from a beautiful wonder like Twilight.

This was a nice moment.  
Then everything began to rumble.  
Twilight's mane perked up. "Another earthquake? Raymond's gone, so that must mean...oh no! The dog's back!"  
"No, that's not it. This place is breaking down!"  
Sol hastily picked Twilight up and put her under his arm. "Without that bastard, the castle's falling apart. We have to go. Now!"  
And Sol ran out of the throne room. While going down a fleet of stairs, the steps at the bottom leading to the next room crumbled.  
"Dammit! Looks like we'll have to jump it."  
"J-jump it! Wait, if I can use my magic, I can..."  
Too late. Sol had taken the plunge off the ledge. What lay below was the deep blue sea. That, and the sharp rocks hidden under the waves.  
Back inside the castle, the bio war machine was overloading with energy from Raymond's death. Once the pinnacle of its limiter was broken, it exploded, sending rocks and gravel from the castle walls in all directions. Sol and Twilight fell fast, having no way to slow down thanks to Sol being all-muscle. And their chances of surviving this fall looked really bad. Either they'd be killed by the pointy rocks in the sea below, or from the falling gravel of the castle walls hitting them as they fell into the water.

Was this the end?

Then time came to total stop. The entire scene was frozen in black and white, with Twilight and Sol hanging in the air. In this instance of time, a portal opened up close to them. Two white hooves reached out and pulled little Twilight out of Sol's arm. When they did, the pony's color returned. She blinked, not understanding what just happened. But as she saw herself getting further away from Sol, still trapped in time, she instinctively reached out for him.  
"No! I won't let him go! He won't..make it without my help! Let me...agh!"  
"I'm sorry, Twilight," said the voice of Princess Celestia. "In order to save you, I had to."  
"Sol, hang on! If I can just cast one last spell...!"

But she never got the chance, as the Princesses' hooves had already pulled her in the portal. When the portal closed, time resumed, and Sol fell into the waters below.

He didn't have time to wonder where Twilight had gone to, as he now had to avoid the falling rubble from above.


	8. Chapter 8: End

In a bedroom within the castle of Canterlot, a lonely pony lay silently on a nice, comfy bed.  
Twilight was rolled up in a ball, facing the open window. Everything was quiet, until there was a knock at the door.  
"Knock, knock," said the Princess of Equestria. "May I come in?"  
Twilight made a grunt, which Celestia took as a yes. She trotted to Twilight and put one of her hooves to her head.  
"You don't have a fever. What's wrong, my dearest student? Do you need a book to read?"  
The little pony didn't say. She grabbed a pillow and stuffed in on her face to shield her from the face of the Princess.  
"I'm sorry for what I did, Twilight. But I couldn't save your friend. My spell wouldn't last long enough for me to reach in and get him after I got you."  
"I understand, Princess," said Twilight, finally speaking. "I just...miss him. I don't know if he even..."  
"Survived? See for yourself."  
Celestia used her magic to will a book from another room to fly in and land close to Twilight.  
She turned herself over to see the open page. On it was a photograph of a proud man with wild hair standing atop a cliff. Next to him was a man with blonde hair, dressed in white and blue.

"That's...that's Sol! And the other guy! So...he made it out alive."

Twilight's mood improved a great deal from seeing him. She read the words on the page aloud.  
"_And the man who had traveled far to put an end to a big problem had succeeded_. _He stood beside his rival, exchanging a few words before continuing  
on his journey_. _It was up to him to fufill his goal of destroying all Gear_."  
When she reached the last word on the page, she closed the book. Then she noticed the book's cover.  
"Hey, this is the book I lost back in that place! How did it get back here?"  
"I found it inside a giant tower."  
"The Tower of Wind? You stepped into that weird world all by yourself, Princess?"  
"I was afraid, at first. But seeing how you were able to, I decided to give it a try myself. I retrieved it from a room in the tower. It had a note with the name 'Raymond' on it."  
"So he did take my book! BASTARD!"  
"Tw..Twilight!"  
"Sorry, Princess Celestia! I guess a little bit of Sol's personality got to me!"  
The two ponies shared a laugh about it. Then the Princess said, "Feel free to rest up here. You'll need to be good and healthy so your friends don't worry."  
"My friends? Are they here?"  
"Well, one of them is."  
And that's when a baby dragon ran in the open door. He had a party hat on his head, glitter on one of his cheeks, and a plate holding a slice of cake in his hands.  
He'd just come back from one of Pinkie Pie's famous parties.  
"Twilight! There you are! The Princess told me you'd come all the way to Canterlot to return that book."  
"What are you talking about, Spike? I wasn't..."  
But before she could go on, a look from Princess Celestia told Twilight that the truth would blow Spike's mind. So she said,  
"Uh, yeah! I wanted to return it to her as soon as I was done with it. You know how fussy I am about...being on time! Hate to be tardy!"  
"Classic Twilight! That is so like you, huh? Oh! I saved you some cake from Pinkie's party. It's still going on. But I don't know if I can.."  
Spike had let out a yawn.  
"Man, I'm so tired. Scooch over, Twilight." Then Spike went to Twilight's side and snuggled in bed close to her, hugging her belly. "Goodnight!"  
And that was where he instantly fell asleep.  
"Awww," mired Princess Celestia. "It's so cute to see the wittle dragon cuddling up to his big sister!"  
"Princess!" Twilight thought it was cute too. But also a little embarrasing.  
"I'll leave you two alone, then. Try to get some rest, Twilight."  
"Okay. I will, Princess! Hey..hold on!"  
"What is it, Twilight?"  
"I have some questions..about the book. Is there really another world in there? How'd I get sucked into that place, and..humans...and..!"  
The Princess waved a hoof at the inquisitive pony. "Uh-uh! It's time for you to sleep!"  
And the Princess left Twilight and Spike, closing the door to the room softly.  
Floating above her head was the very same book Twilight was once in possession of.  
She brought it downstairs to the Canterlot Archives. Once she passed by the guards at the entrance, she went in between the bookcases to an empty table  
and put the book down.  
"Good to have this one back," she said after making sure she was alone. She opened the book and flipped through the pages. Her eyes got big as she noticed  
something different about it.

"Ooh, I see she changed the story! Exactly as planned."

Having a new story to read, the Princess was now able to spend an afternoon with a new book in the sweet comfort of her sky blue beanbag chair.  
She pulled the chair from a nearby corner and fell back on it, slowly smushing the beads inside.  
Then she used her magic to bring the book from the table to her face and turned it to the first page.

As she read the new story, she wondered if there were any other books she could lend to Twilight for a change.


End file.
